


Split Fates: With These Hands

by flightlessxbird



Series: Split Fates [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Choose Your Own Adventure: Poe Route, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of past abuse, Music AU, Pining, Rose is the sweetest, Slow Burn, Wingman BB-8, selective mutism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 12:39:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14237490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightlessxbird/pseuds/flightlessxbird
Summary: Kairos [καιρός]:The moment that must be seized, or that seizes you.The universe works in mysterious ways. One tiny change in any moment can alter the future forever. So when a mysterious scavenger girl manages to escape an attack on Jakku, Leia and Poe can't help but believe it is fate. They still wonder why Jakku was targeted by The First Order, but they suspect Rey might be able to help them find out. If only she would speak to them. In addition to her mechanic and piloting skills, she has something else to offer the Resistance; relief.





	Split Fates: With These Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This series will be two stories; a Kylo Ren route and a Poe route. Here's the Poe route, and the Kylo one will be kicking off this weekend! This story is based in my own experience with mutism, so the topic is something close to my heart. I hope you guys will enjoy this ride with me :)
> 
> Thanks so much to [moonlightrey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlightrey/pseuds/moonlightrey) for being a great beta reader and helping me out :)

          “All those... junker scumbags. Just tossing kids at stormtroopers. Like they were a meal for some vicious, caged animal. Meanwhile a bunch of resistance fighters died saving those kids. And still so many of them were killed. Right now, I don’t give a shit who the survivors are or what they’ll do now, I just hope they’re kids and none of those junker pieces of trash.” Poe ceased before he went into a full on tirade, hearing BB-8’s quiet little beeps beside his bed. All was silent for a few minutes.   
            
          “I only saw one of them, a girl that Leia brought in herself. Not a kid. But didn’t look like a junker either.” Finn trailed off, lost in thought about the things he’d seen in the middle of the fight on the ground. Poe was haunted by the children he saw being sacrificed, but Finn had his own horrors from the battle. He saw the children who had been slaughtered, and realised if he stayed a stormtrooper, he might have been one of the slaughterers himself. Poe understood this the moment he saw Finn’s face after the fight, but didn’t press the matter just yet. He figured now was as good a time as any. He climbed up the ladder halfway, looking down at his bunk mate as he leaned over the top rung.   
            
          “What about you, you okay?” He asked, firm but not wanting his friend to feel pressured. Finn rolled the idea around his brain for a moment, and he finally voiced his troubles. BB-8 gave a sad little beep, followed by panicked whistles until Poe waved a hand to hush him. “Come on. That could never be you and you know it. You pussied out of the battle I met you in, you would have pussied out of this one too.” His tone was still somber but Finn knew he was only teasing, he just rolled his eyes and tossed his jacket at the smiling pilot.   
            
          “Shut up.” He heard Poe laugh as he descended the ladder and returned to his bed. He was still haunted, but his worries eased considerably thanks to his friend. Poe too felt a bit better, but his mind kept falling back to the planet that had just been destroyed. Nothing could pull the image of that massacre out of his mind.  
            
         “This is General Organa speaking. Everyone to the mess hall for dinner, on the double. We have news and assignments. That will be all.” The message was shorter than the General usually gave unless they were in the middle of a battle, but it was easy to assume she was too exhausted to say much more than she needed to. Everyone was. Finn hopped down from the top bunk and grabbed the jacket he threw at Poe, slipping it on as Poe slipped his shoes on. BB-8 went on ahead of them to save them seats near the front of the mess hall. He got there fast enough, but the room was filling up quickly. Everyone knew the news must be about the survivors, and they were riled up enough by rumours and speculations that they wanted the meeting to start as soon as possible. Neither Poe and Finn were hungry so they went straight to their seats. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Rose joined them. Even she only grabbed a drink and some bread, not too hungry herself. She sat between the boys (though she sat closer to Finn unconsciously, Poe couldn’t believe how oblivious the guy was.)   
            
          “Assignments? Do you think the survivors are going to work with us?” She asked in hushed tones, the seats around them filling up quickly. BB-8 was fond of Rose, so he sat nestled on the floor between her and Poe’s feet.   
            
         “Probably. Depends on what they can do, I guess.” Finn answered her. Poe didn’t want to talk at the moment, he was beginning to reach the point where he was too exhausted to speak. He was probably going to pass out in bed right after dinner. Finally, General Organa took the stage and the din of the room dropped down to complete silence. No one ate, no one whispered, no one moved. The suspense was killing them. 

         “Thank you all for coming. There’s been a lockdown of sorts for the last 24 hours. All communications have been blocked, my office has been locked, and we haven’t told you much. That is my fault. But, I needed to get over a thousand children to safety.” Poe’s eyes widened as he leaned forward to listen, the room erupting into confused, hushed whispers. Leia raised a hand, and the voices slowly fell silent once more. “Of all things, a world class hunk of junk was sitting on the planet. The Millennium Falcon.” Her fond smile grew, a few laughs coming from the crowd over her ‘hunk of junk’ comment. “A few scavengers managed to save more than half of the children on Jakku. Many perished, but many more would have died if not for the efforts of these young men and women.” She looked off and nodded for the ten survivors that everyone spread so many rumours about to join her onstage, and everyone began to clap. Poe stayed still, in stunned silence as his heavy heart lightened infinitely. He knew the things he saw would haunt him, but at least something good came from the battle. The survivors themselves grinned with pride at saving their own, except one girl who kept her eyes locked on the ground. The girl suddenly looked up as the General called a name, Rey. She stepped away from the group and joined Leia at her side.   
           
           “And this remarkable young woman managed to pilot the Falcon herself, and got away from the planet while avoiding detection. With my orders and coordinates, the children have been sent and safely touched down on a Resistance base.” The girl, apparently named Rey, clearly looked uncomfortable. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she kept them behind her back. The General let her return to the group, and she immediately relaxed a bit. She gave assignments to each of the survivors, and they ran offstage one by one to join the leaders of their section. Rey was last, and of course she was assigned to be a pilot. Leia said she had another assignment, but that was a surprise for later that evening. Poe was pointed out to the girl by Ackbar, and she kept her eyes on the floor as she walked to the table and stood beside it. Finally, the meeting was called to a close and everyone turned back to their plates to eat. Poe scooted over a bit, motioning for Rey to sit down at the table with them. She did so cautiously, hands on the table with her thumbs poking at each other nervously. It was a bit of an awkward meeting, as they were now pretty squished, but Poe was determined to express his relief that she got those kids out. Before he could open his mouth, the General walked up and sat across from them after asking someone to stand for a moment.   
            
          “Sorry, Dameron. I wanted to talk to you for a moment,” she said quietly. She looked fondly at Rey for a moment, then back to Poe. “Rey is easily going to be one of the best on your team, I personally vouch for her brilliance and skill.”   
  
          “I don’t doubt it, General.”   
  
          “Good,” she smiled, then thought for a moment. Obviously, she was trying to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say. Apparently, she decided on the most blunt option. “Rey doesn’t speak. For her own reasons I’m not at liberty to say on her behalf. So I ask that you be as patient as possible, alright?” Rey froze. She didn’t seem embarrassed by the conversation, only worried that it would somehow end badly. Her knuckles turned stark white as she clenched her fingers. Poe leaned forward to catch Rey’s attention. He gave her a genuine, heartfelt smile.   
  
          “Rey, I won’t get frustrated with you. I understand you’ve likely been through some horrible things on that godsforsaken planet. I won’t push you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.” She glanced over, meeting his eyes for barely half a second before looking back down and giving a soft nod. Poe looked to Leia, and found her smiling as well.   
            
          “Thank you. No better commander to put her talents to good use.” She complimented him, and stood to leave as she was satisfied with his answer. As he turned back to Rey, he found Rose standing beside her suddenly. He hadn’t even noticed her get up. She set a tray of food in front of Rey, and smiled sweetly down at the new girl.   
            
          “Hi Rey! I’m Rose, it’s nice to meet you. I thought you might be hungry, so I grabbed you some food. I’m not sure what you liked, so I kind of grabbed a little of everything...” Rose seemed to realise she was rambling, so she just laughed a bit nervously and walked back to her seat between the boys. Poe just laughed softly at the exchange. He leaned over to quietly tell Rose what the general told them, while Finn introduced himself.   
            
          “Nice to meet you, I’m Finn.” He leaned over the table and shook Rey’s hand, who seemed hesitant to take it momentarily. She shook his hand and Poe noticed the momentary shock that knitted her eyebrows tightly together for the briefest of instants, and the feeling seemed to pass and she relaxed her posture once again. Whatever she’d gone through, whether physical abuse or complete physical neglect, it left her still sensitive to touch. Almost scared. Poe wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what was done to her, even if he did want her to open up to him. Finn let go of her hand and suddenly it was Poe’s turn. He knew his hands were rough and callused from years of hard work and struggle, but he hoped his touch could ease her into this new experience. Friendliness, and care.   
            
          “I’ll officially introduce myself then. I’m Poe Dameron. I’ll be your commander which means anything you need, you should come directly to me. Rose or Finn will be good too, if you can’t find me for any reason. You ever want to talk, spar, ask for ship parts, or ignore me to play around with BB-8, just let me know.” He reached out his hand for her to shake, treating her like a stray dog in that he waited for her to be comfortable enough to reach forward on her own so she wouldn’t feel trapped. She seemed to appreciate that as she took his hand, giving a meek smile in place of a nod and shaking it. Her grip was weak and a little shaky. Poe looked her over as he sat down, wondering when the last time she had a semi decent meal was. By the way she stared at the food as if it was prepared for a goddess, he guessed never in her life. She wasn’t starting to eat but Poe could swear he saw tears in her eyes, the skin of her eyelids red and irritated as she’d likely been emotional the last couple days. He was about to ask her what was wrong when Rose leaned over behind him and whispered to his ear.  
  
          “Sometimes they weren’t allowed to eat until they were told to,” she clarified, a twinge of sadness in her gentle voice. Poe felt the tension he hadn’t even noticed leave his body and he gave Rey a reassuring smile.  
  
          “Go ahead and eat, gotta get your strength up.”  
  
          Finally, her teary eyes dried up quickly and she went after the food like a starving animal, tearing meat off bones and shovelling veggies into her mouth as she savoured the tastes and smells. Much of this was likely stuff she’d never eaten before. Poe wondered if this might be the happiest he’d ever see her. Rose too smiled at their new recruit fondly. Within minutes, Rey’s tray was empty and she’d downed the small glass of wine Leia had given her to calm her nerves. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days, and she likely hadn’t. Her whole body probably weighed barely 90 pounds, she was so malnourished and weak. How could this poor girl have flown the Falcon in such a high stress chase, knowing the lives of tons of children hung in the balance of her abilities? Adrenaline, perhaps. Or the desperation to get off that disgusting planet. The wine served to make her plenty relaxed, her tensed shoulders fell and her tanned fingers tapped a slow and gentle beat on the table with her eyes closed. Finn and Rose were too engaged in their own conversation that Poe had tuned out of. He could almost swear her lips were moving, silently speaking lyrics to some song he couldn’t make out. It was almost hypnotising. The way her hair was falling out of the three buns she wore and draping over her eyes a bit, one hand supporting her chin as she played notes on some invisible piano.  
  
          “Hello again everyone,” called Leia into the microphone on the stage, capturing everyone’s attention immediately. “Now, its time for the surprise I promised you all earlier.”  
  
          Upon looking up at the stage, Poe saw that there was now a grand piano sitting up there in wait. He heard Rey take in a sharp breath, letting it out in a shudder as she stood.   
  
          No. Way.  
  
          “One thing we have been missing more than blasters, more than ships, more than intel, is morale. We’re all exhausted. I know you all just want this war to be over, but we still have work to do until it is over. So, as one of Rey’s jobs was entertainer, she offered us morale in spades. She has the voice of an angel, even if she only uses it when she’s singing. Please make her feel welcome, come up Rey!” Her voice was supportive, motherly even. That didn’t surprise Poe, but what did surprise him is how Rey actually went up to the stage. She took the mic, and he could see in her eyes even from this far that she was in a bit of terror. This was probably a bigger crowd than she would have been used to on Jakku. Still, she sat at the piano like a champ after putting the mic into the stand next to the piano, and with another shivering breath, she began.

_“I'm a new soul, I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit 'bout how to give and take._   
_But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake.”_

  
          Leia wasn’t exaggerating. The entirety of the cafeteria was in dead silence, the sweet tones of the piano flowing through the room as her voice seemed to penetrate everyone’s skin with goosebumps and wonder. She really was wonderful.

 

_“See I'm a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit 'bout what is true and fake._   
_But why all this hate? Try to communicate finding trust and love is not always easy to make.”_

  
          Poe stood to watch with entranced eyes, he watched her delicate fingers hit every staccato note perfectly and how at other times her fingers flowed easily from key to key. He tried to take her singing voice and apply it to her speaking voice. Would she sound the same? Would her speaking be stilted and stuttered, forcing out words awkwardly instead of the way she sang, clear like a bell and sweet as honey? He desperately wanted to know. Still, he knew he would have to be patient. In reality, he knew he likely would never hear her speak. He could hope, though. Right? For the rest of the song, people started to get into it, clapping along with the piano. Near the end, he noticed her shoulders slump ever so slightly. Hearing them get into it must have relaxed her a little, and Poe could swear he even saw a little smile tickle the corner of her lips. Upon the last note of her song, the room erupted into applause. People were impressed, but more importantly they were relaxed.   
  
          " _She is so good!_ " BB-8 whistled happily by Poe's feet. He offered the little droid a half smile, arms crossed over his chest after joining everyone in their enthusiastic clapping.  
            
          "Yeah buddy, she sure is."


End file.
